Bells ring out across Merseyside as Liverpool unites to remember the Hillsborough disaster

MEMORY: Anfield paid tribute today to the 96 people who lost their lives during the Hillsborough disaster [PA]

At 15:06 bells tolled at Liverpool's Anglican Cathedral and churches across the region during a one minute silence for the 96 people who went to Hillsborough and never came home.

It marked the moment Liverpool's FA Cup semi-final at Sheffield Wednesday's ground was stopped on April 15, 1989, after a deadly crush due to overcrowding.

Long-time campaigner Margaret Aspinall, chair of the Hillsborough Family Support Group, and other relatives of the victims were applauded as they arrived at Anfield for the club's annual memorial service.

Both current and former players, as well as fans and club officials, gathered in the ground while 96 seats, draped in scarves, were left empty.

The service began with a rendition of the hymn Abide With Me, which has been sung at every FA Cup final since 1927.

A ring of lights, with the name of a victim inscribed into each light, was lit as the names of the victims were read out by Reverend Kelvin Bolton, the Reverend David Smith and Father Stephen Maloney.

Thousands of scarves were laid out on the pitch in the shape of "96", donated from fans and clubs across the UK and beyond after an appeal from Liverpool FC for scarves to show a symbol of unity across teams.

It was inspired by the mile of scarves that formed between Anfield and Everton's Goodison Park a week after the disaster.

Liverpool’s public transport was halted at 3.06pm, the Mersey Ferry blew its funnels and barriers at both Mersey Tunnels were lowered.

Liverpool boss Brendan Rodgers, who is four games away from guiding the club to their first ever Premier League title, gave a reading of Psalm 23 before addressing the Hillsborough families themselves.

Rodgers said his biggest inspiration as manager was each time he came to Anfield and seeing the names of the 96 on the Hillsborough Memorial.

He said: "I feel very humble to be in your company.

"You are the real inspiration for us. Your courage, fortitude, resilience and love for the people you lost, it's what inspires me, every day, as the manager of Liverpool Football Club.

"Thank you for the inspiration you give us all. You'll never walk alone."

The first reading was given by Everton manger Roberto Martinez, who read from St John 14:1.

In a short address afterwards, he said he was 15 at the time of the disaster, a football-mad kid in a football-mad family, when he heard the news.

ESCAPE: Survivors scramble to escape the crush and are pulled not the top tier [SPORTSPHOTO/ALLSTAR]

DESPAIR: Advertising boards were used as stretchers for the injured and dead [SPORTSPHOTO/ALLSTAR]

CRUSH: Thousands were being squashed to death in the Liverpool end of the stadium [SPORTSPHOTO/ALLSTAR]

NURSE: Tara Parkes desperately tried to help those around her [ROSS PARRY]

He said: "We could not believe the pain and horror that the families would get by receiving the news that their loved ones would not be coming home.

"Would not be coming home from a football match. How can you die by watching a football match?

"That was not right or fair what happened and afterwards was not right or fair either."

To a huge cheer, Martinez added: "The authorities took on the wrong city if they thought they were going to get away with it."

He said the Hillsborough Family Support Group, which led the campaign for new inquests, was a remarkable group of people.

He said: "I know, I don't have to tell you, Everton are with you, you know that."

GATES: Scarves have been left by people across the country [AP]

TRIBUTE: Fans pay their respects outside Anfield on the 25th anniversary of the shocking incident [PA]

TRAGIC: A young boy looks at tributes left behind [ROSS PARRy]

At Lime Street, the city's main railway station, a huge screen displayed a photo of each of those who lost their lives in the crush on the Leppings Lane terraces at Sheffield Wednesday's Hillsborough ground as the cup semi-final versus Forest got under way.

The ceremony saw many family members, football fans and witnesses to the accident visit Anfield for the emotional service.

One, Tara Parkes, was a teenage nurse and found herself in the midst of the disaster.

She has spoken of the 10-year-old boy she desperately tried to hold on to – he sadly passed.

She added: "I could see the front row of people on the terraces were going blue. They were either dead or dying.

"People were being crushed so I put my hand through the fence to try and push back those immediately behind them. It was hopeless. I shouted: 'Move back' but there was nowhere to go."

Mayor of Liverpool Joe Anderson said: "This year marks a pivotal moment in the history of the Hillsborough tragedy and the families' long fight for justice.

"Not only is it the 25th anniversary of the tragedy but we also have the start of fresh inquests into how the 96 lost their lives.

"We will never forget those who died at Hillsborough and this is a day for us to unite as a city and remember each one – and also their families and friends left behind.

"I urge everyone in Liverpool and across the region to observe the minute's silence, stand shoulder to shoulder and remember the 96 fans that went to a football match and never returned home.

"Our thoughts and prayers are with their loved ones today."

Some of those present at today's memorial are witnesses in the new inquest into Britain's worst sporting disaster, which began last month and resumes next week.

The original accidental death verdicts in 1991 were quashed in the High Court in 2012 after a long campaign by the fans' families.

1989: The goal at the Kop end of Anfield, bedecked with floral and scarf tributes by Liverpool fans [PA]

“You are the real inspiration for us. Your courage, fortitude, resilience and love for the people you lost, it's what inspires me, every day, as the manager of Liverpool Football Club”

Liverpool manager Brendan Rodgers

Thousands made their way to Anfield to mark the occasion and pay their respects to those who lost their lives.

Groups of fans stood around in bright sunshine in front of Anfield's permanent Hillsborough memorial, reading the names of the dead, among them the youngest victim Jon-Paul Gilhooley, aged 10 and the cousin of Liverpool captain Steven Gerrard.

At the centre of the memorial burns an eternal flame, next to the Shankly Gates, festooned with scarves left by fans of different clubs to show their support.

Beneath the scarves of teams including Manchester City, Everton and Chelsea were placed a growing carpet of floral tributes laid down by visitors. Joe Wright, 58, from Widnes, was one of the people who laid flowers.

Mr Wright, a season ticket-holder in the Kop, was accompanied today by his wife Jill.

He said: "I was at Hillsborough on the day and I just felt I needed to come today.

"My mates were in Leppings Lane but they all got out. It affected everyone on that day."

Julie Fallon lost her 23-year-old brother, Colin Sefton, from Skelmsersdale, in the disaster. Mrs Fallon said her brother was just an "ordinary young man" whose life had only just begun.

She told BBC Breakfast: "It just felt like somebody had mapped out a book, described the characters and set the scene" but it was then filled with "blank pages".

Mrs Fallon said ahead of today's memorial: "I think the fact that people... have been incredibly supportive, but I suppose in those quiet moments at the memorial, even though you are surrounded by thousands of people, who are all giving you their very best wishes, I think each family then becomes quite insular for those moments, and just remembers what it means for them."

Chair of the Hillsborough Family Support Group, Margaret Aspinall, whose son James, 18, died in the tragedy, told ITV's Daybreak: "All of them, fans and survivors, that have gone through so much alongside us, I'll be praying for them as well, that in the end they'll all have peace because that's all we've ever wanted in the end, just peace. You can't have peace till you get truth."